Vampyr, the RPG about turn-of-the-century vampires, has been delayed to 2018

Vampyr, Dontnod's turn-of-the-20th-century game about life, death, morality, and bloodsucking, sounds like it could actually be a really good game. Alas, we're going to have to wait longer than expected to find out: It was originally slated for release in November of this year, but today the studio announced that it's been pushed back to the spring of 2018. 

"Delaying the release of a project you hold dear is always a tough decision. However, we believe that meeting a deadline should never compromise quality. We were still convinced just a few weeks ago that we would be able to release Vampyr this year. Unfortunately, a technical issue—now solved—has set our teams' schedule back at the end of the development," Dontnod CEO Oskar Guilbert said in a statement.   

"This delay allows us enough time for all the polishing and balancing phase, much needed for a game of Vampyr's scope, with its ambitious, semi-open world, its complex narrative and deep RPG mechanics that give players a real impact on the world." 

A vampiric RPG set in the slums of London immediately after the First World War isn't necessarily what you'd expect from the studio that made Life is Strange, but it sounds like they're on the right track: We got a look at 45 minutes of gameplay at E3 in June, and it was impressive enough to lead Steven to say that it looks like "The Witcher 3 and Vampire: Bloodlines had a baby." That sets the bar awfully high, but if waiting a few extra months means that it's done right, I won't mind at all. 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.